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China will be the third-largest advertising market in the world in 2013, according to a new report from media agency ZenithOptimedia, overtaking Germany and sitting behind Japan and the United States.

According to the agency’s latest ad spending report, China was the fourth-largest media ad market last year with total spending of $US23.2 billion, or 5.1 per cent of the $US451.9 billion global ad market.

Ad spending in China was predicted to climb to just under $US34 billion in 2013, giving it a 6.5 per cent share of global ad spending and making it the third-largest ad market.

The estimated $US10.8 billion increase in Chinese ad spending between 2010 and 2013 would be the second-largest increase: ZenithOptimedia predicted ad spending in the US would rise more than $US14 billion during the period, from $US151.5 billion to $US165.9 billion.

Ad spending in Australia was tipped to increase from $US9.7 billion last year to about $US11.2 billion in 2013, but Australia would slip from ninth spot to 10th.

ZenithOptimedia predicted the internet would capture 15.4 per cent of global ad spending this year, making it the third-biggest ad medium behind television (40.9 per cent) and newspapers (20 per cent).

The internet’s share was forecast to climb to 16.8 per cent in 2012 and 18.3 per cent in 2013, at which point it would rank second behind television (41.7 per cent) and ahead of newspapers (17.6 per cent).

Saturday marked the end of the first part of the 2011 television ratings year, a period dominated by Seven Media Group’s three channels: Seven, 7Two and 7mate.

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The combined night-time audience of the three Seven channels jumped 14 per cent in the first 10 weeks of the 2011 TV year, which started on February 6. Nine Network’s total audience was down about 0.2 per cent, while Ten Network’s total audience was up about 8 per cent.

When Seven Group Holdings executives revealed the $4 billion plan to sell Seven Media Group to West Australian Newspapers on February 21, they talked about the potential for the merged business to make acquisitions.

Seven Group executive chairman
Kerry Stokes
said merging WA Newspapers and Seven Media – which were 24.3 per cent and 45 per cent owned by Seven Group respectively – would create “the scale to do things in Australia that we couldn’t do before and look at opportunities here and overseas".

Seven Group chief executive Peter Gammell said “our radar is switched on" for acquisitions and the merger would “create a platform for future growth".

WA Newspapers shareholders approved the Seven Media takeover last week and the merged company, Seven West Media, will start operating later this month. The new company will have just under $2 billion of debt, compared with WA Newspapers’ $226 million.

After last week’s shareholder meeting, WA Newspaper director Doug Flynn (pictured) – who will be on the Seven West board – played down the likelihood of acquisitions in the short term.

“I think the first thing we want to do is bed down the acquisition . . . and I doubt the board will be looking at any significant acquisitions for some time," he said. “It really is going to be about bedding the whole operation down."

Australians’ fascination with television cooking programs was on show again last Wednesday night, when the final 10 minutes of Seven Network’s My Kitchen Rules pulled 2.02 million capital city viewers.

That made it the most-watched TV program so far this year in terms of live viewing, that is, excluding time-shifted viewing. Until then, the title was held by the February 8 episode of Seven’s Packed To The Rafters, which had 1.94 million viewers.

The rest of last Wednesday’s My Kitchen Rules episode, that is, the 104 minutes before the winners were announced, had 1.72 million viewers and was the ninth most-watched TV show so far in 2011.even had eight of the 10 most popular TV shows this year, with Packed To The Rafters episodes accounting for six of the eight. The non-Seven programs in the top 10 were Ten Network’sOprah Winfrey in Australia special on January 19 and Nine Network’s January 23 evening news.

The myriad documents generated by the legal battle between Seven Media Group and itsformer chief sales and digital officer, James
Warburton
, revealed several secrets about the company.

The closing submission from Seven Media, which is trying to delay Mr Warburton’s start as chief executive at Ten Network from July this hear to October 2012, said his annual salary was $750,000.

That figure excluded commissions and bonus payments. The closing submission from Mr Warburton’s lawyers said “a not insubstantial (if not predominant) part of Mr Warburton’s remuneration was dependent on sales commission and performance bonuses".

The promotion Mr Warburton was offered in February – to head of television on July 1 this year and then Seven Media chief executive within 12 months – included a base salary of $1.8 million a year, rising to $2.2 million, and a bonus of up to 100 per cent of his salary, plus shares.

Mr Warburton’s base salary at Ten is $2.2 million a year, which could rise to $4.4 million if he reaches various performance targets.

Seven Media Group chief executive
David Leckie
’s prediction that the new series of Ten Network’s MasterChef would draw just 1.3 million viewers a night has been dismissed by other media executives.

According to an affidavit sworn by James Warburton in his legal battle with Seven Media, Leckie said MasterChef 3 – which starts on May 1 – “will do 1.3 million or less".

That would represent a sharp drop from last year’s series: the average capital city audience of the Monday-to-Thursday episodes of MasterChef 2 was 1.85 million, while the Sunday night “challenge" episodes had an average audience of 1.93 million.

“More digital channels have appeared since MasterChef aired last year, so its audience numbers might be down a bit this year," said one media buyer.

“But it isn’t going to take the tumble Leckie predicts. It will still be the biggest thing on TV this year."

Last year’s MasterChef finale had 3.96 million capital city viewers and was the most-watched non-sport TV program since the TV ratings system switched from diaries to people meters in 1991. The most watched program since 1991 is Seven’s coverage of the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, which had 6.64 million capital city viewers.

The still-rocky state of the United States economy and the magazine advertising market did not stop North American publishers from launching new magazines in the first three months of 2011.

According to MediaFinder.com, which tracks US and Canadian publications, 54 new titles appeared in the March quarter, compared with 25 in the previous corresponding period, and 24 were closed. The list of new titles included Tea Party Review, Phineas and Ferb, Lucky Kids, Gourmet Italian Kitchen and Plum Miami. In calendar 2010, 193 new magazines were launched in North America and 176 magazines were closed.